Be bold: Try other flavors mixed into your hot cocoa

Once the cooler weather arrives, we crave hot cocoa with the same intensity that we crave a cold beer during barbecue season.

There is, after all, something intensely comforting about drinking a warm mug of nature’s most perfect food – chocolate! Add a dollop of freshly whipped and lightly sweetened cream, and it doesn’t get much better.

Or maybe it can. To help take our hot cocoa game to the next level, we decided to see how many deliciously fresh ways we could doctor a mug of basic cocoa. Turns out, the possibilities are pretty inspiring (and tempting). So we picked our top 10 to share. Here are 10 fresh combinations to consider adding to your hot cocoa.

Start with your favorite purchased hot cocoa mix, or make our hot cocoa. For homemade, heat 1 cup of whole milk until steaming. Sift together 1 tablespoon cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon sugar. Whisk into the hot milk along with 1/4 cup milk chocolate bits until completely smooth. Add any of the following and garnish with whipped cream:

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